The Warmth of the Night
by Falneou17
Summary: With the end of the year coming to a close, Shirokane Rinko is trying her best to keep a positive outlook on her day-to-day activities despite the weather changing for the worse. Turns out that a certain somebody has plans for Roselia's keyboardist to brighten up her day, but will her plan succeed and how will Rinko herself react to what is to come?


**Hi, Rei~ so yeah… I am your Secret Santa in the Bandori Secret Santa 2018~ surprised~? You have _no_ idea how hard I laughed when I got the announcement e-mail, and you have _no_ idea how hard it was to keep it a secret (I mean, why else would I not have told you who my giftee is the moment I found out~?).**

 **Also, um… you did not specify that you did _not_ want angst, so… that's your loss there~**

 **To all non-Reis out there who may stumble across this (I know there are a lot of you out there, but please don't feel too discouraged of being a non-Rei; if we get down to it then I'm a non-Rei too, after all): I dedicate this oneshot to Rei for the Bandori Secret Santa 2018. And even though I do not dedicate this to you, specifically, I hope you enjoy this as well~!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own BanG Dream! Girls Band Party, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

It was that time of the year once again: the days had gotten a lot shorter and the air felt colder with every passing day. No matter where the eighteen-year-old would look she could see people braving the cold to get to where they needed to go for the day; not one of them did not huddle in their thick coat and scarfs. This included the eighteen-year-old herself who used a glove-covered hand to cover her face some more with the thick woolen scarf that she wore.

Despite the days becoming colder and colder and the end of the year just right around the corner, schools still had not let out for the holidays completely as of yet. And it was because of this that one lone figure was shuffling through the nearly-abandoned streets after a long day that is now finally behind her.

If it were not for the fact that she wanted to get home as fast as her legs could carry her, she would actually even have considered the possibility of enjoying the beautiful scenery. The thin layer of powdery white snow that covered the streets had her footsteps imprinted onto them, almost as a mini reminder that she had been there. The leafless trees that towered well above her head were decorated with strings of lamps that illuminated the streets in the festive lights.

As it so happens, however, it _was_ cold, and the girl could not be happier when she saw the familiar door come into view. She reached her destination only seconds later, fumbled around in the many pockets of her coat and pants for her keys before finally fishing them out of her back pocket.

"I'm home…" Shirokane Rinko muttered, the last remaining bits of her energy seeping out of her body as she shut the door behind her and relished the warmth that welcomed her inside. She was exhausted and for good reason; Yukina had extended their band practice by another two hours after Rinko already had a heavy school day before that.

Unfortunately for the piano prodigy, she would not get the rest she wanted so much as someone chose that moment to rush into the hallway. The person who had lunged herself in front of Rinko was a girl about Rinko's height, maybe a little bit taller, and was smiling at Rinko. It was obvious that she had been waiting for Rinko to finally come home.

"Welcome home, Shirokane-san!" the girl with short ivory-colored hair welcomed a Rinko who was in the process of putting on her set of slippers. Not waiting to give the older girl a chance to respond, she added, "Where is Lisa-san? I thought you would be coming home together with her."

"Ah, um… Imai-san is going out… with Yukina-san…" Rinko muttered a reply, rubbing her hands together in an effort to warm them up. Gratefully accepting the offer from the younger girl to take her bag for her, Rinko stepped inside the hall before adding, "Ao…Aoba-san…?"

"Yes, Shirokane-san?" the other girl, Aoba Moca, asked as she looked at Rinko with her usual unreadable expression. After the silence had gone on for longer than she thought was intended, Moca added, "Is something wrong?"

"Could Ao… Could Aoba-san… stop calling me Sh… stop calling me Shirokane-san?" Rinko said in a barely audible whisper, fumbling around with the hem of her shirt as the words left her mouth. She knew that it was too soft and that she needed to repeat what she had just said, but before she was given the chance she heard Moca's response.

"Moca-chan will stop calling Shirokane-san 'Shirokane-san' when Shirokane-san stops calling Moca-chan 'Aoba-san'," Moca responded with a playful smile before turning around and pointing at the stairs, "It must have been cold outside when you walked home today. There should be enough hot water for you to warm up and then dinner should be ready. It's Moca-chan's turn to cook today, I hope you will like it, senpai~."

Without giving Rinko a chance to say anything, Moca had already walked back towards the shared kitchenette the girls all shared together to finish preparing the meal. This left Rinko all alone in the silent and cold hallway until a small shiver ran down her spine.

'A hot bath does not sound so bad…' Rinko thought to herself with a small smile, making a mental note to thank the younger girl later for her thoughtfulness. Before Rinko went upstairs, however, she couldn't stop herself from peeking in through the door. She was graced by the scene of an apron-wearing Moca humming along to a song that Rinko did not recognize while dancing around with the pots pans on the stove.

Rinko quietly closed the door and stepped away, hoping and praying that Moca had not seen or heard her watch her. As the image was burned in her memory now, Rinko made her way up the stairs where she knew that a hot bath was awaiting her. And, by how loudly her body was screaming for her, she knew that she would need it more than she thought she would.

* * *

"Ah… that felt great…" Rinko sighed in relief, drying up her wet hair after staying in the tub for longer than she would like to admit to anyone. Using her hands to wrap a towel around her still-damp hair, a visibly-relaxed Rinko stepped out into view. She was wearing a long-sleeved pink shirt under a dark purple cardigan and long fluffy black pants, the outfit providing her with enough warmth without constricting or weighing her down too much.

Deciding against hanging around in her cold, lonely room, now significantly colder after Rinko was forced to open a window earlier, the eighteen-year-old trotted down the stairs and following both her nose and her ears. A warm, welcoming aroma wafted through the air that helped guide the starving girl to its source as a gentle but unfamiliar melody calmed her beating heart. The two stimuli helped Rinko relax and forget about the troubles of the day, but the next thing that her brain processed caused Rinko to freeze.

"…did you hear?"

Rinko was torn at how to respond; if she were to be honest, she would upset her housemate by confirming to her that she had heard her. If she were to lie to try and be nice and keep her housemate's dignity, she might hate her for not being truthful for her.

Pushing down a comment that threatened to leave her lips with a gulp, and hiding the sweat on her forehead by letting her bangs fall back down, Rinko did the only logical thing that she could think of doing in this situation.

"What are you cooking, Aoba-san? It smells… nice…" Rinko added that second bit in a softer tone, shuffling around on her spot whilst hoping and praying that Moca would not have noticed this. Of course, Rinko had lived long enough with Moca to know better, but she was still very happy when Moca did not push Rinko's little comment.

"To be perfectly honest… I don't really know…" Moca trailed off sheepishly before reaching over to grab her phone and handing it over to Rinko. As Rinko eyed the screen curiously to try and decipher what the scribbly symbols meant, Moca added, "It's something that Tomato-chin cooked for us once when we were still in Junior High. She gave me the recipe the other day and Moca-chan felt nostalgic, so here we are. I hope you don't mind that."

"It's not that… it's not that I don't… I was curious what it was…" Rinko said as she tried to make herself a bit taller by standing on her toes. Despite being one of the taller girls in her band, she was still upset that she couldn't manage to peer into the pot to see what it was.

After some time had passed in which Rinko's efforts proved to be fruitless, she finally gave up and muttered, "I will find out what Moca-chan has cooked soon anyway…"

It only took a fraction of a second for both girls to realize what just happened, but one of the two was faster to bring it up.

"Eh~? What was that, Shirokane-san~?" Moca asked, deliberately making her question sound longer than it actually was like she usually did when she already knew the answer. A shit-eating grin plastered on her face and all, Moca took a few steps in Rinko's direction before adding in the same tone as before, "I'm sorry, Shirokane-san~ Moca-chan did not quite hear that, could you please repeat that for me~? One more please~."

"M… M… Mo… Moca… -chan…" Rinko whispered, her voice muffled greatly by the two hands that were trying to cover the crimson tint on her face. Staying in that position for a few moments, Rinko had expected to be laughed at or to be teased about it until she moved out of the house and lived on her own. Maybe the neighboring city has nice places for a senior high school student to rent and live in and—.

"See? Moca-chan told you that it wouldn't be that difficult for you to stop calling me 'Aoba-san'~."

—maybe she could change her name so nobody could find her that way and… wait…

"What did you say?"

"That Moca-chan told you that it wouldn't be that difficult for you to stop calling Moca-chan 'Aoba-san'~," Moca smiled a bright grin, gently prying one of Rinko's hands away from her face before clasping both of her own around it. The soft, warm, tender skin of Moca's hands holding on to Rinko's made Rinko lose her train of thoughts for a bit and stare at the point of contact between the two girls.

It took Moca almost shaking Rinko senseless to get the older of the two to regain her bearings and return to the present.

"W- Wh- What?"

"Moca-chan said that the stew should be ready now, so if Rinko-san goes and sits at the table we can start eating," Moca said with an undertone of amusement clearly audible in her voice. As she gently turned Rinko around in the right direction and started to playfully push her there, Moca added, "We should eat ahead or it will get cold if we wait for Lisa-san and Tomato-chin."

Before Rinko knew what she was doing, she was already seated at the table. A big bowl and the utensils placed neatly in front of her while Moca was carrying the hot pot over with some difficulty.

'Ah… 'Rinko-san'… when Moca-chan says it like that, it really does have a nice ring to it…' Rinko thought to herself with a smile as Moca poured the steaming liquid into Rinko's bowl and the steam clouded Rinko's vision.

* * *

"Rinko-san! Before you go to bed, there is one more thing Moca-chan wanted to show you!"

"Ah, uh… o-okay…" Rinko was taken aback by this; Moca had prepared a hot bath _and_ dinner for her already, what else could she possibly have had in mind? Partly out of genuine curiosity but also partly to help her think of a way to repay Moca on a future day, Rinko turned away from the door and walked over to the couch where she sat and waited for Moca to return.

Rinko did not have very long to wait. Only seconds after she had sat down, her patience was already rewarded when Moca walked into view. Moca was fumbling around and fidgeting with something, but she held it in such a way that Rinko could not see what exactly it was. The only thing that Rinko knew about it was that it was small enough to be hidden in Moca's hand, which only helped to build on Rinko's curiosity.

"It's… not that much, but Moca-chan thought that she should get you something," Moca began slightly uneasily so. It seemed like she was still hesitating on handing the small gift over, but before she had the chance to run away she pushed the small item in Rinko's lap and said, "For you, Rinko-san!"

"For… me…?" Rinko repeated, looking between the small wrapped object in her lap to Moca's embarrassed face and back at the wrapped object again, "Um… I'm going to my room to… to open it, then."

Accepting Moca's silent nod as an indication that she agrees with this suggestion, Rinko grabbed the small wrapped object, stood up and ran upstairs. She didn't once look back to see if Moca would follow her as she knew that she wouldn't, and it wasn't until Rinko reached the privacy of her room that she finally stopped running.

Panting slightly as her body was not used to physical exercise anymore, Rinko grasped for the light switch by the door and walked in the direction where her bed was as the light flickered on.

Once the neatest room of the shared house was fully illuminated, Rinko plopped down beside her bed and placed the gift on her bed. She hesitated for a moment as her mind wandered to all the possible different places her mind usually wanders off to, but she knew that she could not waste too much time or Moca could grow suspicious.

Rinko took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves before she swiftly got to work. Years of intense piano practice have granted her superior control over her fingers, and it did not take long for Rinko to completely unwrap the gift without damaging the wrapping paper at all.

After Rinko returned from putting the paper to the side where it would not get crumpled up, she took a long look at what was inside the paper; it was a small USB stick. Rinko took the USB stick and walked over to where her computer was, booted the machine up and plugged the stick inside.

"There is only one file…" Rinko muttered to herself, somewhat surprised at the revelation when she opened up the drive on her computer. The file itself was not even named what it was so Rinko could only guess what it could possibly be.

Rinko opened the file and found out that it was a video file which _really_ piqued her curiosity; why would Moca send her a video file of all things?

Rinko's question was answered soon enough when Moca appeared on the screen, looking slightly uncomfortable being in the center of attention but otherwise seemed to be okay… and then the Moca in the video looked Rinko right in the eyes and broke the silence.

 _"Good morning, Rinko-san! Or, well… depending on when you got to watch this, it might be the afternoon or the evening, ehehehehe…"_

Rinko had to suppress a smile as she started to feel a familiar burning feeling behind her eyes. No. She couldn't break away now of all times, she _had_ to watch this through in its entirety.

 _"A few years ago, we at Afterglow recorded a little song that we then came to call 'Unite'. I am sure that Rinko-san has heard this song before, too?"_

Rinko had heard that song before in its entirety multiple times, and she was always mesmerized by how well the vocals and the melody played in harmony in that song. But before Rinko could reminisce about the song a certain thought popped up in her head.

'Why would Moca-chan talk about Unite now?' Rinko raked her brain for an answer as the Moca in the computer only smiled like she usually did, seemingly giving Rinko the time to think. It was right before the Moca in video continued talking that Rinko had finally deduced the answer…

 _"Well… with everybody's help, Moca-chan wrote and recorded a special version of this song. Moca-chan calls this parody of our 'Unite' song… 'United'! Please enjoy, Rinko-san!"_

Before Rinko received the opportunity to mentally prepare herself for what was to come, the screen had already changed. Instead of Moca alone standing in the screen, she was surrounded by the other members of Afterglow… but this formation seemed different somehow.

Moca was standing in front of the mic.

The next thing that Rinko knew was happening she was thrown into the same melody of Unite but with a twist… Moca was singing lyrics that Rinko did not recognize. Lyrics that Rinko did not remember ever hearing before.

Lyrics that made Rinko redder and redder with every passing second.

Much too soon for Rinko's tastes, the song had already ended and so had the video; her room was now filled with silence but a different one from what it usually was. This silence was seemingly pushing her forward, and she knew what she had to do… as soon as she recovered from the rush of blood to her face.

As soon as she had regained her composure, shut down her computer and turned off the lights in her room, Rinko closed the door behind her with a newfound drive and motivation.

* * *

"Moca~! Rinko~! We're home~!" Lisa called out the moment she stepped inside the house, taking a step to the side to let Tomoe follow in after her. As soon as the two girls were safe from the cold winds outside, Lisa locked the front door before turning to Tomoe, "Do you think they would have gone to bed already?"

"I don't think so… Moca usually doesn't sleep before three in the morning, and I don't believe that Rinko-san is a very early sleeper, either…" Tomoe trailed off while taking off her coat and offering to take Lisa's as well while she was standing there already, "If Ako's shouts and screams are anything to go by…"

"What was that?" Lisa asked, but Tomoe waved off her question to indicate that it wasn't that important. Accepting this response, Lisa shrugged before stepping inside the common room and had to muffle a squeal, "Tomoe! Tomoe come quick!"

"What? What's wrong?!" Tomoe shouted in alarm, already standing beside Lisa before Lisa could turn around to face her. Tomoe didn't get an actual response from Lisa, however, so she followed Lisa's line of sight before she saw what made Lisa react the way that she did.

Even Tomoe couldn't suppress the resulting grin from forming as she took out her phone to burn the scene in front of her in history.

"That is just precious."

There, in front of Lisa and Tomoe on the couch, were Moca and Rinko. Both girls were fast asleep and, by the looks of things, seemed to have been for several hours already. This, however, did not stop them from resting their heads against each other or having their fingers interlocked. Watching the two girls' shoulders rise and fall in perfect synchrony, both Lisa and Tomoe silently agreed on the best course of action.

They left the room, but not before Lisa wrapped a fluffy blanket around the two sleeping girls, leaving Moca and Rinko alone to enjoy their time together.

* * *

 **Ha! Did you _really_ think I would write angst for a Secret Santa gift (unless specifically requested)? No way XD I hope you enjoyed it, though, and a Happy New Year~ to both my beloved giftee and to anyone else stumbling upon this~**


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